Bleak House: Chapter 20 Summary & Analysis

In his office, during the long vacation, Mr. Guppy is extremely bored. He lounges restlessly about Kenge and Carboy’s and grows jealous of Richard, who is also there over the holiday but who has been given use of Kenge’s private office. Mr. Guppy thinks that Richard believes himself too good for the place and is convinced that Richard is trying to steal his job. He is pleased that Richard occupies himself with Jarndyce and Jarndyce because Mr. Guppy feels this is a legal dead end.

Mr. Guppy’s colleague Bart Smallweed enters the office. He is only 15 but seems never to have been a child. He admires Mr. Guppy and copies him in everything. However, when it comes to personal lives, Bart often offers counsel to Mr. Guppy. Mr. Guppy leans out of the window to cool himself down and sees his friend Mr. Jobling below.

Mr. Jobling shouts up to Mr. Guppy that he is hungry and Mr. Guppy shouts back that, if he will wait, they can dine together. The group retire to a local inn where Bart Smallweed fancies the middle-aged waitress. He is a strange, wizened little man, who seems to have been surrounded all his life by legal proceedings.

They order three meals and Mr. Jobling, who has a downtrodden appearance, eats heartily. He has fallen on hard times, been fired, and borrowed money from a bad source. Mr. Guppy suggests that Mr. Jobling should go to Mr. Snagsby for writing work and to Krook to rent a room, as he knows that Krook is looking for a lodger. Mr. Guppy says that he can put a good word in with Krook, who, he says, is a mysterious character. Mr. Guppy cannot work out if Krook is rich or poor, or what he did for money in his youth.

Mr. Jobling gratefully thanks Mr. Guppy and accepts his offer. Mr. Guppy tells Mr. Jobling that Krook’s previous lodger died in the room but Mr. Jobling seems unconcerned by this. Bart Smallweed goes ahead to Krook’s to see if he is in, while Mr. Guppy pays the bill. Bart returns and says that Krook is asleep, and the men set out to wake him up.

Bart Smallweed leaves them, and Mr. Guppy and Mr. Jobling go on to Krook’s shop. They find Krook asleep in the shop, with a gin bottle beside him, reeking of alcohol. It takes them some time to wake the old man up and, when they do, Mr. Guppy offers to run to a nearby inn and have the gin bottle refilled. Krook willingly agrees and Mr. Guppy hurries out. When he returns, he introduces Krook to Mr. Jobling and explains Jobling’s circumstances to the old man.

Krook shows Mr. Guppy and Mr. Jobling the room—Mr. Jobling assumes the false name, Mr. Weevle, to disguise himself and listens to Krook’s tales about the shop’s connection with famous legal disputes such as Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Mr. Jobling moves in the next day and decorates the dingy room to his liking. He pins a series of portraits on the wall which represent “Great British Beauties.” Mr. Jobling becomes very popular with the neighbors in Cook’s Court and is an excellent lodger. Mrs. Piper, who lives nearby, even remarks to her neighbor that he may inherit Krook’s fortune.